Rangoon Police Seize US$1 Million Worth of ‘Abandoned’ Drugs

By May Sitt Paing 11 February 2016

RANGOON — Police have seized over 260,000 methamphetamine pills worth over 1.3 billion kyats (over US$1 million) in Rangoon’s Mingaladon Township, officers confirmed this week.

Responding to a local tip in Pyinmabin village on February 5, police found the stimulants abandoned at a garbage dump near the Rangoon-Prome road. The tablets were wrapped in paper and packed in plastic and cement bags near the dumping site.

“We assume that those stimulant tablets were abandoned weeks ago. Some of the bags are torn and some tablets are wet. We are still probing into the case. Drug squads and local police stations are working together to find the owners of those drugs,” said police officer Htay Win of Htauk Kyan Police Station.

Police have opened an investigation under the Illicit Drugs Act. It is not yet immediately clear if the latest discovery is linked with the chain of five previous drug hauls in Mingaladon and East and West Dagon townships last year. In these busts, police seized over 33 million pills worth around 170 billion kyats (US$138.5 million) in total.

On February 8, police also confiscated 4.5 million kyats (US$3,600) worth of stimulants from a house in South Dagon Township and a haul of the same narcotics worth 500 million kyats (over US$400,000) in Tamwe Township.

Translated by Thet Ko Ko.